


Stardust

by Mechanical_Curse



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Hermann needs a hug, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Lars Gottlieb's A+ Parenting, M/M, Newton gives him one, Pre-Slash, Serious Injuries, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24869638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mechanical_Curse/pseuds/Mechanical_Curse
Summary: The damage inflicted on his leg during the fall had been too severe for the surgeons to completely fix it. He would never totally recover, would never regain his full mobility. All because he had lost focus for one tiny, stupid second. Hermann was too clever to ignore what this meant. Now, he would never meet the physical requirements to become an astronaut and go into space like he so desperately hoped for.Or the story of how Hermann and Newton meet as kids at the hospital.
Relationships: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	Stardust

Hermann closed the window of his bedroom, careful not to make a noise, then he landed barefoot on the grass beneath him. Not for the first time, he thanked his luck that he slept on the first floor of his family home. It was freezing outside and his thin pajamas didn’t do much to conceal the cold, but he didn’t care, too enthusiastic to worry about it.

That didn’t prevent him from being cautious, though. He could only imagine how his father would react if he discovered him here, sneaking out of the house so late at night. Usually, Hermann wouldn’t have been bold enough to risk his wrath, but just for once, it seemed worth it.

The comet that would cross the sky that night would be a once-in-a-lifetime event. It wouldn’t reappear again before hundreds of years. Hermann just had to see it with his own eyes. He wished he could have simply asked his father to let him watch it, but he knew all too well what he thought of his “silly fixation with astronomy”, as he called it.

And so, this didn’t leave him with any other choices than to disobey his household’s rules or miss the comet and regret it all his life. He knew which option he preferred.

He scowled as his eyes fell upon the tall trees hovering all other the garden, blocking his view of the sky. Even though he had been prepared for that difficulty, it wasn’t any less annoying. During the day, he had spotted an elm tree that looked like the sturdiest around. He walked towards it, gathering all of his determination and courage.

He wasn’t the most athletic nor the most adventurous kid, and futile activities such as tree climbing certainly weren’t something his father encouraged. But what he lacked in experience, Hermann made up for it in enthusiasm and persistence. He envisioned the whole tree, methodically calculated the best way to get to the top, then he put his foot on the lowest branch.

It took him a while and a few failed attempts, but in the end, he managed to reach his goal. Thankfully, the winds weren’t too strong and he managed to settle himself among the tallest leaves of the elm tree. Then, Hermann patiently waited, sometimes rubbing his arms together to warm himself up.

The stars looked bright above him and there was not a single cloud in sight. A perk of living in the countryside, far away from the pollution of big cities. Everything looked perfect and it only added to his impatience.

Then, he saw the first shooting star, quickly followed by another. His eyes widened in glee upon the sight. He was filled with awe as he finally witnessed the reality of what he had learned in his science books. Nothing could have made him happier. But as he was overcome with awe, he became careless, too focused on the celestial bodies above him and not enough on the tree that carried his weight. As he almost jumped out of joy when he spotted another meteor, the branch he was sitting on let out a sinister crack, then broke.

Hermann barely had time to understand what was happening to him. He fell towards the ground, thrashing and screaming. In his panic, he tried to grab onto something, but to no avail. When he finally crashed at the bottom of the tree, his right leg took the worst of the impact. A sudden burst of pain ran through his nerves and for a minute, he didn’t dare to move, breathless and still in shock.

With each passing second, the aching only became worse and worse, until it turned to sheer agony. Uncontrollable sobs shook his small chest as he writhed in the dirt. His face and hands were covered in scratches and his nightclothes were torn everywhere. Desperate tears pooled in his eyes as he kept shaking from how bad it hurt.

“Help!”

His cry didn’t reach anyone. Hermann tried calling for his mother, his father, each one of his siblings, but no one heard him. Suddenly filled by dread at the thought that no one knew he was here, that no one was going to rescue him, he became even more frantic. He gathered his strength to try and get up, but his right leg immediately gave out under his weight.

In addition to the pain, the cold of the night was starting to bite at his skin more aggressively than before. Hermann just couldn’t imagine spending the whole night here, anxiously waiting for his parents to come to his rescue at morning. So he bit his lower lip to muffle his screams and he limped awkwardly to the front door of his house. He couldn’t go back to his bedroom; with his injury, he would never manage to make it back inside through the window.

He rang the bell a few times and started banging at the door as well as shouting with all the strength he had left, hoping that someone, anyone, would notice him. It didn’t take long before he fell on his knees, his whole body shuddering from the harsh treatment he had forced upon it.

Hermann didn’t know how long he waited, but he did know that he heard footsteps coming towards him, right before he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Almost a day later, when Hermann woke up at the hospital and the doctors explained what happened to him and what the consequences of his injuries would be, he let out new tears, but those were different, not from physical pain but raw emotion.

The damage inflicted on his leg during his fall had been too severe for the surgeons to completely fix it. He would never totally recover, would never regain his full mobility. All because he had lost focus for one tiny, stupid second. Hermann was too clever to ignore what this meant. Now, he would never meet the physical requirements to become an astronaut and go into space like he so desperately hoped for.

Here he laid in a hospital bed, numbed by painkillers, his leg encased in a cast, his dreams and bones shattered. His father’s reaction didn’t help to make him feel better. With his cold, judging look, he didn’t even have to utter a single word who Hermann to know what he thought of this. That he certainly deserved what happened to him for engaging in his foolish hobby and disobeying his instruction to give up on it and focus on more important matters.

No one from his family even bothered to stay at the hospital with him for the night. He knew that his mother and siblings were probably just following his father’s orders, but it still hurt. Hermann felt so small, alone in this big, white, impersonal room.

There was another bed right next to his, obviously meant for another patient, so he wasn’t surprised when the door of the room opened. With his influence and money, his father could have certainly gotten him a single room, but Hermann guessed that this was part of his punishment, too.

He buried his face into his pillows, not wanting anyone to witness his misery. From the moment he had been left alone, he hadn’t managed to stop crying and he sure didn’t need anyone to see that. However, as much as he wanted to close himself from the world around him, he couldn’t ignore the arguing that followed between the boy that would apparently be sharing his room and what Hermann assumed to be a nurse.

“Seriously, you don’t need to keep me here! This is nothing, barely a few scratches. It’ll be healed in no time!”

“These ‘scratches’ are chemical burns and you’re staying the night under observation. No discussion.”

The boy let out an exasperated sigh, then he jumped onto his bed, all while mumbling under his breath about how stupid this was. The nurse didn’t react to his complaining and quickly retreated from the room before he could start antagonizing her again.

For a total of maybe five seconds, everything was silent except for Hermann’s muffled sniffling. Then he felt a hand gently shake his shoulder.

“Hey, you okay there, buddy?”

When he reluctantly turned around, he was faced with a kid around his age, maybe just a tad younger. He had messy hair, round cheeks and a pair of glasses that swallowed half of his face. His left arm was covered in bandages but it didn’t seem to faze him.

“Leave me alone.” Hermann grunted.

He intended for his voice to sound firm, but it only came out tired and sad. The boy frowned, surely because he could now see just how red Hermann’s eyes were from crying.

“You sure? You don’t look alright.”

Instead of backing down, the kid sat on the edge of the bed like he owned the place. It only added to Hermann’s exasperation.

“Well, maybe that is because I broke my bloody leg, annihilating all my chances of fulfilling my dream of becoming a space pilot and making a living of my love for the stars! Now, please mind your own business!”

He knew that snapping out at the other boy was unfair, that he wasn’t responsible for what happened to him, but he just couldn’t contain all the emotions that bubbled in his chest.

“Ah, well, I guess you have reasons to be all grumpy then. People already told you that you talk funny? You sound like an old man.”

Hermann sent him the coldest glare in his book, definitely not in the mood to be made fun of. However, the kid quickly looked apologetic, running a hand through his messy hair.

“Ah sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. I just… tend to have no filter, ya know?”

“Why are you even pestering me?”

“Hey, don’t be mean! I’m just trying to help here!”

“Oh yes, now I feel so much better, knowing that I have annoying pattern speeches in addition to a useless leg. As if I didn’t know already how broken and pathetic my damn body is right now.”

“Okay, first of all, I said it was funny, not annoying. There’s a difference. Secondly, you can’t just say that about your body.”

This time, Hermann blinked in confusion, more and more puzzled and infuriated by that boy.

“Why not?”

“Because that would be hella rude to the stars, dude! You said you loved them, right?”

“What does this have anything to do with the stars?” He hissed, fearing that his would lead to nothing but a cruel joke.

“Well, your body is made from them. Even if you can never go to space — which sucks, I won’t lie about that — they’ll always be with you, right there.” He pointed at Hermann’s chest, a grin on his face as he was explaining his reasoning. “You, me, we all come from stardust, and if that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is. So it’s not very nice of you to belittle their creation.”

For a minute, Hermann just stared at him, bewildered. He considered telling him off, reminding him that stars certainly weren’t sentient beings, but he stopped in his tracks when he realized that the idea somehow soothed his pain.

“I guess you’re right.” He reluctantly admitted.

“Of course I’m right, I’m a rockstar, dude! Or well, I’ll be once people let me study biology and chemistry without whining that’s it’s too dangerous for my age. By the way, think you could make some place for me in here? It’s getting kind of cold.”

Hermann pondered whether to agree or not. Sure, the boy was irritating, but all things considered, he had done a pretty good job at distracting him from his misery, even if it was only to replace it with annoyance. With a sigh, he moved to the other side of the bed and moved the sheets to make a place for him.

“Thanks, dude!”

He promptly climbed into bed and proved to be surprisingly mindful of Hermann’s cast as he did so. However, he stiffened when the boy wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“Providing comfort?” He shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

Hermann didn’t know how to react to that. His family wasn’t exactly keen on providing any kind of physical affection. But he was exhausted, and everything hurt, and the boy’s arms were warm so he decided he could let it slide.

“Just make sure you don’t accidentally kick my leg. It’s already bad enough as it is.”

“Don’t worry, you will barely notice I’m here!”

As the kid beamed at him, his smile bright and joyful, Hermann couldn’t repress the quite irrational thought that he did look a bit like a star.

It was the last thing that crossed his mind before he finally fell asleep, the hardships of the day finally taking their toll on him.

* * *

When he woke up, Hermann was alone. Somehow, he was disappointed when he realized that he couldn’t feel the warmth of another body next to his anymore. He looked around the hospital room, only to realize that all the other kid’s belongings were gone from the room. His parents must have come to take him home early in the morning.

Hermann didn’t really know how to interpret the sourness that filled his heart at the thought. His roommate’s injury didn’t seem that serious, what did he expect, for him to stay here until the end of Hermann’s reeducation, which could take months?

Still, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t miss the company, as much as a nuisance as it was.

A pained gasp escaped him when he unintentionally moved his bad leg. That was when he noticed it. His cast was covered in rough sketches of stars, planets and galaxies. It looked a little clumsy, but Hermann loved it all the same. How his roommate managed to do this without waking him up or hurting him, Hermann had no idea, but he was thankful for the gift. His father would surely scold him for it when he would come back, but at the moment Hermann didn’t care. He was genuinely happy to have a reminder of the boy who helped him feel better, even if just for a little while.

Only then did he realize that he never asked him his name. Little did he know that it would take him drifting with the brain of a giant monster, decades later, and seeing the events of this very night through the eyes of one genius biologist, to finally learn it.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr.](https://newt-no-newt-yes.tumblr.com/) Kudos and comments are always welcome <3


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